Legislative Council Panel on Public Service
Meeting on 22 January 1996
Employment of Temporary Staff
and Short-term Contract Staff in Government Departments
This paper briefs Members on the arrangements for employment of temporary staff and short-term contract staff by government departments.
2. There has been public concern about private sector employment of temporary staff on a short term basis to avoid the Employment Ordinance and Employees' Compensation Ordinance which normally apply if an employee works continuously for four weeks or more and for at least 18 hours in each week. Questions have been raised in this connection regarding employment of temporary staff in the civil service. This paper explains the policy and practices of employment of temporary staff and short-term contract staff in the civil service.
3. Temporary staff and short-term contract staff are normally employed on an ad hoc or fixed-term basis under the following circumstances -
- to cater for seasonal service needs and short-term fluctuations in workload that do not justify maintaining permanent staff;
- to undertake ad hoc duties or specific short-term tasks or projects which cannot be accommodated by permanent staff resources;
- to cater for a temporary shortfall of staff; and
- to perform duties in posts which are about to be deleted for various reasons (e.g. contracting out).
4. There are slight differences between the terms for temporary staff (normally more junior staff employed for relatively brief periods), short-term contract staff (normally employed for specific periods to undertake a particular task. e.g. a systems programmer needed to work on an one-off project) and agreement officers (i.e. civil servants employed on normal 22 or 3 year contract). The differences in conditions are summarised briefly below and in table form at Annex I.
5. The arrangements for employing temporary staff are clearly set out in relevant Civil Service Regulations and Civil Service Branch circulars. In essence, temporary staff are remunerated on an hourly, daily or monthly rate, except where special terms and wage rates have been approved by the Finance Committee or the Secretary for the Treasury under delegated authority. The rates of pay are normally related to the minimum point of the pay scale of the equivalent ranks in the civil service. The conditions of service are determined having regard to the Employment Ordinance and Employees' Compensation Ordinance, and the benefits include rest days, paid statutory holidays, paid annual leave, sickness allowance, maternity leave and employee's compensation, and fully meet the statutory provisions under the two Ordinances.
6. For employment of short-term contract staff, the terms and conditions are normally modelled on the standard agreement terms for civil servants, except for special packages approved by the Finance Committee. The staff are normally employed on gratuity-bearing contract terms, receive a salary determined according to the pay scale of the equivalent civil service rank, and are provided, as appropriate, with the benefits available to a civil servant on agreement terms. The terms vary in individual cases, and the gratuity rate or provisions of benefits may differ from the standard agreement terms. Nevertheless, the provisions of the short term contract meet, and in most cases exceed the statutory provisions under the Employment Ordinance and Employees' Compensation Ordinance.
7. Terms and conditions for agreement officers are generally the same as for officers on permanent and pensionable terms and fully meet the statutory provisions under the Employment Ordinance and Employees' Compensation Ordinance.
8. At present, the major users of temporary staff and short-term contract staff in the government are the Urban Council (UC) and the Urban Services Department (USD), the Regional Council (RC) and the Regional Services Department (RSD), the Post Office and the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). A brief summary of the arrangements and use made of temporary employees is at Annex II.
9. Temporary staff and short-term contract staff are employed in government departments on a need basis. The government is mindful of the provisions of the Employment Ordinance and Employees' Compensation Ordinance and the terms and conditions for employing temporary staff and short-term contract staff meet and often exceed the statutory requirements of the two Ordinances.
10. Mr W H Cheuk, Principal Assistant Secretary (Civil Service) is responsible for the subject matter. He may be contacted on telephone number 2810 3063.
Appointments Division
Civil Service Branch
5 January 1996
Annex I
|
Benefits
|
Statutory provisions1 |
Standard agreement for civil servants2 |
Temporary
staff3 |
UC/RC
contract staff4 |
RTHK departmental contract staff
|
|---|
|
Rest days
|
1 rest day each week
|
1.5 rest days each week (actual hours of work may vary)
|
Same as EO
|
1.5 rest days each week (actual hours of work may vary)
|
1.5 rest days each week (actual hours of work may vary)
|
|
Paid statutory holidays
|
11 days statutory holidays each year (or alternative holidays). With full-pay if employed for 3 months or more.
|
All gazetted public holidays with full-pay (or alternative holidays)
|
Same as EO
|
All gazetted public holidays with full-pay (or alternative holidays)
|
All gazetted public holidays with full-pay (or alternative holidays)
|
|
Paid annual leave
|
7 days full-pay annual leave for every completed 12 months' service
|
31 days (or 40.5 if employed for 10 years or more) of full-pay vacation leave per year
|
Same as EO
|
28 days per year
|
1 day per month
|
|
Sickness allowance
|
2 paid (2/3 normal pay) sickness days each month during the first 12 months and 4 each month thereafter.
Sickness allowance will be paid if sick leave is granted by a registered medical practitioner or dentist in Hong Kong and is of a continuous period of not less than 4 days.
|
91 days full-pay and 91 days half-pay sick leave (or 182 full-pay and 182 half-pay sick leave if employed for 4 years or more) under recommendation of a registered medical practitioner.
|
Same as EO
|
2 full-pay sickness days each month during the first 12 months and 4 each month thereafter (subject to accumulation limit of 120 days)
|
Same as EO
|
|
Maternity leave
|
4 weeks before expected day of confinement and 6 weeks after actual date of confinement if employed for not less than 26 weeks upon commencement of leave. Paid (4/5 normal pay) if employed for not less than 40 weeks and has no more than 2 surviving children
|
4 weeks before expected day of confinement and 6 weeks after actual day of confinement. With full-pay if employed for not less than 40 weeks upon commencement of maternity leave and has no more than 2 surviving children
|
Same as EO
|
Same as EO
|
Same as EO
|
|
Maternity protection
|
Employment of any female employee who has been employed for more than 12 weeks cannot be terminated other than by summary dismissal from the date on which she gives notice of her intention to take maternity leave until the date on which she is due to return for work.
|
Same as EO
|
Same as EO
|
Same as EO
|
Same as EO
|
|
Employee's compensation
|
In accordance with the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO)
|
In accordance with the pension legislation and ECO
|
Same as ECO
|
Same as ECO
|
Same as ECO
|
|
Severance payment
|
2/3 of last month's pay or 2/3 of $22,500 (whichever is less) for every year of service if dismissed by reason of redundancy if employed continuously for not less than 2 years prior to redundancy or layoff
|
Covered by end of agreement gratuity
|
Given the temporary nature of employment, normally there should be no need for severance payment. For the rare cases that arise, provisions under the EO will be followed.
|
Covered by end of contract gratuity
|
Same as EO
|
|
Long service payment
|
2/3 of last month's pay or 2/3 of $22,500 (whichever is less) for every year of service times a factor determined by the age of the employee if employed continuously for not less than 5 years and dismissed for reasons other than summary dismissal or redundancy.
|
Covered by end of agreement gratuity
|
Given the temporary nature of employment, normally there should be no need for long service payment. For the rare cases that arise, provisions under the EO will be followed.
|
Covered by end of contract gratuity
|
Same as EO
|
|
Gratuity
|
-
|
25% of total basic salary drawn
|
-
|
25% of total basic salary drawn
|
-
|
|
Medical and dental benefits
|
-
|
Free medical and dental treatment for officer and his family. Charged hospital maintenance, dentures and dental appliances.
|
-
(free treatment if injured in course of duty)
|
-
(free treatment if injured in course of duty)
|
-
|
|
Housing benefits
|
-
|
Quarters, Private Tenancy Allowance or Home Financing Scheme
|
-
|
Private Tenancy Allowance or Housing allowance
|
-
|
|
Passages
|
-
|
Leave passages (at non-standard Economy Class return air passage) for officer and his family once every two years (for officers between D1 and D3)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Education allowance and school passages
|
-
|
Granted for the officers' children subject to certain conditions
|
-
|
-
|
- |
1-- Provisions under the Employement Ordinance (EO) and Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO).
2-- Terms for an agreement officer appointed on local terms at D3 or below.
3 -- Terms in accordance with Civil Service Branch Circular No. 18/91 and relevant Civil Service Regulations.
4-- Terms for Contract System Manager appointed by UC/RC.
Annex II
(a) UC & USD/RC & RSD
1. USD and RSD employed a total of 1408 and 758 temporary staff respectively as at December 1995. The temporary staff employed are mainly ushers, workmen, casual labours, and other staff needed for a fixed-term. These temporary staff are employed to cover seasonal services (e.g. lifeguards), fluctuating workload (e.g. ushers), ad hoc duties (e.g. workmen and casual labours) and short-term tasks and projects (e.g. instructors). In RSD, some 400 workmen out of the 758 temporary staff are employed to perform the duties of posts about to be deleted upon contracting out. The duration of employment of temporary staff ranges from 3 months to 1 year, though the period may exceptionally be longer.
2. In addition, UC and RC, under the authority provided by the respective municipal ordinances, employ a number of contract staff including Programmers, Systems Analysts and System Managers engaged on a short-term basis for specific ad hoc projects. As at December 1995, UC and RC employed 47 and 4 such short-term contract staff respectively. These contract staff are normally engaged on 1 year's, 2 year's or 2.5 year's contracts, depending on operational need. The terms are modelled on agreement terms for civil servants.
(b) Post Office
3. The Post Office employed some 700 temporary staff as at December 1995 for sorting mails, loading and unloading mails, and completing documentation for delivery and despatch of mails. They are engaged to cope with seasonal fluctuation of workload (e.g. the peak season before Christmas) and to supplement permanent staff to meet operational need. The duration of employment varies, is usually no more than a few months but exceptionally is a year or more.
(c) RTHK
4. RTHK employ some 130 departmental contract staff. The terms for these departmental contract staff are based on a special package approved by the Finance Committee to cater for the operational need of RTHK to recruit staff at short notice in the competitive broadcasting business. They are employed to perform duties of the Programme Officer grade and are held against vacancies in the approved establishment of posts in the grade. They are paid on the same pay scale as their civil service counterparts but are not entitled to civil service fringe benefits such as medical, dental and housing benefits, education allowances and passages. The employment of these staff are meant to be a temporary expedient pending the conduct of formal recruitment exercises or the completion of formal appointment procedures to fill vacancies in the approved establishment. As such, there is no fixed employment period for such type of temporary staff.
Appointments Division
Civil Service Branch
5 January 1996
Last Updated on 21 Aug, 1998
